Photo: Getty Images
Top Three Takeaways – September 14th, 2021
- Surreal. That’s the best way I can describe what’s happening in South Florida’s school districts. Here’s the deal. The state is saying school districts with school mask mandates without parental opt outs are violating the law based on the Florida Board of Education’s rule mandating parental choice. After a protracted legal battle, the First District Court of Appeal agrees with the state. Meaning that the judicial branch of government, in addition to the action previously taken by the legislative and executive branches have all acted to ensure parents have the choice as to whether their children have to be masked all day at school or not. That’s the law and it’s currently settled by all three branches of government...and yet South Florida’s school districts say no. As in no, we don’t care what the law is. Now, they’re not exactly putting it that way, but they might as well have. Yesterday, in speaking with Broward School Superintendent Dr. Vicki Cartwright, she said they don’t think they’re breaking the law. That’s a bit surreal. I wouldn’t recommend trying this method at home. Something tells me if you break the law your story ends badly if you tell the state and legal system that you’re not because you don’t agree with it. Now, to her credit she was willing to come on with me and answer the tough questions which I greatly respect (puzzling as the answers may have been). That’s more than I can say for the previously reliable Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who had time for CBS’s Face The Nation on Sunday and for Palm Beach County’s new give me “lawyers, guns and money” Super Michael Burke. They’ve both ducked interview requests for over a month. But hey, when you don’t think you’re accountable to the law, why should anyone be surprised when you’re not accountable to your community? Unless of course, it’s by the local news media that won’t ask the tough questions and won’t hold your feet to the fire because they’re worried about “access” and agree with the lawlessness. But now the question becomes...
- Where to go from here? Yesterday I mentioned an option is to sue them. If you’re a parent of a public-school student and you don’t want your child masked at school all day. Don’t have them do it. If the school districts take punitive action against your child, sue them. That’s very much a strategy here. It’s also an absurd reality because you, nor your children, should ever be put in a position to defend yourself against a lawless school district violating your rights. What these school districts appear to be willing to do in their lawless legal game of chicken, with your children caught in the middle, is force the hand of Governor DeSantis. Should they hold firm and defy state law, Governor DeSantis is well within his legal right to remove all defying board members and superintendents statewide. That’s my impression of what’s happening here. The districts are no longer afraid of losing funding because the Biden administration has said they’ll make up for it with federal funds. Instead, the rouge school districts seem to think there’s safety in numbers. Perhaps thinking Governor DeSantis surely wouldn’t turn over dozens of school board members and superintendents. I’m sure that’s not his preference but is that necessarily the right calculation? That’s one way to end this. I’ll also remind all parents once again. You’ve seen how far these school districts will go to violate the Florida Board of Education’s policy regarding masks. What other violations are they willing to take? Like for example, potentially teaching CRT? We can’t trust our school districts to adhere to the law, therefore you can’t take for granted what’s happening in the classroom.
- We are not going to let people get fired because of the vaccine mandate. Speaking of Governor DeSantis, that’s what he had to say as he announced the state would be fining local governments $5,000 per instance of mandating COVID-19 vaccinations as a condition of employment starting this Thursday. DeSantis specifically is supporting 200 firefighters suing the City of Gainesville over their recent vaccine mandate. Speaking of those firefighters, AG Ashley Moody, who is taking legal action on their behalf against the city, warned the state could face a crisis with recruiting first responders were mandates allowed to stand. The state’s anti-Biden approach comes with a few questions. Will local governments like Palm Beach County’s Tax Collector, who already fired unvaccinated employees, be held accountable? Will local governments that mandate regular testing for the unvaxed potentially be subjected to fines? We’ll know soon. But this we know from the governor. We are not going to let people get fired because of the vaccine mandate. That seemingly applies to wannabe dictator Biden’s mandate and to the local wannabe dictators alike.